Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) first rode the Ducati at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo at the end of last season, and the Majorcan has now returned almost a season later to take on the venue once again – going fastest on Friday at the track where he is the most successful rider in the premier class. Happy with his progress and feeling much more natural on the bike, Lorenzo was just over a tenth clear of rival Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) after Day 1.
“I’m very happy about the afternoon,” explains the five-time World Champion. “Little by little I was improving my riding, together with the bike on this track, which has always been good for me on a different bike. This bike you have to ride differently but I’m getting used to it. Every race I ride better, and I’m very happy about that. We still need to work in the same areas on the same weak points we have – corner speed and turning – but now I can profit from more or less the whole potential of the bike. I’m riding more naturally, I know much more the direction of the bike and I’m not scared to go into a corner and not know how the bike is going to react – now I know, and I can push more to the limit and I think I improved one tenth on my fastest lap of the test so that’s good for Friday.”
Pushing to the limit saw laptimes already within Lorenzo’s own race lap record, and the Majorcan knows competition on Sunday will be fierce – especially with a Championship at stake for either his teammate Andrea Dovizioso or points leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team).
“Honda have always been strong here,” says the winner at Valencia for the last two years. “It’s a good track for Marquez and Pedrosa and they always very strong here. Their bike also is working really well, especially at the exit of the corners – but ours wasn’t bad, very similar to them…”
Saturday sees the grid formed for the #FinalShowdown, before the lights go out on Sunday at 14:00 (GMT +1).